My new job is for a company which among other things, primarily advocates for people with spinal cord injury. In these first few weeks I have grown to fully appreciate how little the general public knows about living with SCI/D.
Society and our infrastructure is built for the able bodied. Not only that, but our every day products are also built for able bodied people. Unless you are somehow educated, you’d never know the challenges people with disabilities encounter on a daily basis. This is why we do what we do, to make the built environment accessible. Not as an afterthought, but as part of the process from beginning to end.
A few days ago, I was the tech supporting a presentation on bladder management. I learned much more than any person would ever wanted to learn about bladder management, but when you have a spinal cord injury, these are the things you have to do on a daily basis. So yeah, if you don’t have a disability, don’t tie up the accessible restroom for your convenience!
Nowadays when I walk to the train station and go down the steps, I tend to wonder how a person who is in a wheelchair would be able to get on the train. Accessibility is a thing I never thought much about, but it is now much more present in my mind. Education is the key!
Just a life long New Yorker sharing the journey through my lens. Please take note of a post’s date. The views I express here are subject to change and evolving as I grow and learn.
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